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A LEVY ON off-licence sales would raise money to bridge the funding gap created by the loss of alcohol companies’ sponsorship of sports, the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland claims.
The VFI, which represents over 4,00 publicans outside of Dublin has reiterated its call for a so-called ‘lid levy’ – a charge on all unopened alcohol products sold in the off-trade – to generate funds lost as a result of any ban on drinks companies sponsoring sports.
It was reported at the weekend that ministers have struck a compromise deal on ending alcohol sponsorship of sports by 2020 although significant hurdles remain with regards to how to replace funding of some €20 million that sporting organisations currently benefit from.
The VFI claims its idea of a 15 per cent tax on alcohol sold in off-licences would raise about €240 million and “protect the employment intensive on-trade sector and 50,000 associated jobs while generating badly needed revenue for sports and other areas”.
However, the National Off-Licence Association has previously said such a measure would put the independent off-licence sector out of business overnight with already thousands of job losses in the off-trade sector since the recession hit.
“We are unashamedly saying that this ‘lid levy’ proposal will help protect the labour intensive on-trade,” Gerry Rafter, president of the VFI, said.
“We know the government needs to generate income so we are giving them a solution that raises the necessary revenue and could fill a vacuum left by a ban on alcohol sponsorship while protecting jobs at the same time.”
Earlier this month an all-party Oireachtas Committee rejected proposals to ban alcohol companies from sponsoring sports events and organisations instead recommending, amongst a number of measures, the use of funding for substance abuse programmes.
An agreement at Cabinet level would only be only likely once ministers have put in place ways in which to make up the likely funding shortfall left by banning alcohol companies from sponsoring sports.
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Cheaper to fly over it rather than around it! Sadly though this has come at a massive human cost! RIP to all
poor security awareness with an element of ignorance certainly must have played a part..
Calm down man! Who said anything about Iraq??
Some air authority, strange though that some companies had been completely avoiding the area for months, while it looks like some Asian airlines kept using the flight path, maybe a breakdown in communication?
U’d seriously wonder why they are allowed,
considering there is 2 set’s of animals fighting each other on the ground below..
It’s a popular route. 55 flights travelled the same route on the same day and it was used by airlines such as Jet Airways, Thai Airways, Pakistan International Airlines, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Emirates and Austrian Airlines. Flights regularly fly over conflict zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Nigeria because most missiles don’t have that kind of range and the planes are at a height deemed to be safe. I mean, how likely is it that a group of rebels will have that kind of SAM equipment? This is a rare and unfortunate incident and asking why a flight was flying over a conflict zone at a previously safe (and normal) altitude is the wrong question to be asking. Imagine how few countries we could fly over if no one used flight paths above conflict zones
That’s assuming the rebels are responsible of course. It’s just as unlikely that the Russians or Ukrainians, who have that technology, would have been expected to use it on a commercial flight
There’s no accounting for stupidity Danny, if you handed a loaded gun to a child what would be the outcome you would expect ?
I fly to Australia quite often and it isn’n unusual to fly over war torn reguons. I have flown over both Iraq and Afghanistan and always the former soviet states.
You have to wonder what exactly does the downing of a passenger jet, originating from a country with few ties to Russia / Ukraine, achieve?
..your assuming it was intentional?
It doesn’t achieve anything. Why would the rebels carry out such an act intentionally, it would be sheer madness for them to do so. They had large numbers of the Ukrainian army trapped in the southeast area just along the border with Russia and it looked like they were going to inflict large losses until this incident occurred. This was a serious blunder that will be the death knell for their campaign as the Russians will close off the border and their supplies of weapons and they will be under huge international pressure to abandon their campaign.
Eh a passenger plane was shot down from the sky… No intent?
They thought it was a military jet
Doesn’t matter what it was, people were going to be killed. The intent was there.
Where is Frank? I am getting worried.
Franks has his thinking cap on. He is doing his best to come up with a conspiracy theory…
Lot more going on here than meets the eye!!!
Putins fingerprints all over that missile.
Like what Thomas?
Wreckage of MH17 packed with rotting corpses…… Bodies that had been dead for days.
MOSCOW — A top pro-Russia rebel commander in eastern Ukraine has given a bizarre version of events surrounding the Malaysian jetliner crash — suggesting many of the victims may have died days before the plane took off.The pro-rebel website Russkaya Vesna on Friday quoted Igor Girkin as saying he was told by people at the crash site that “a significant number of the bodies weren’t fresh,” adding that he was told they were drained of blood and reeked of decomposition.
Shut up frank.
So they flew a plane that went missing months ago to one of Europe’s busiest airports, filled it with rotting corpses, got a pilot/crew to fly it with no questions asked and blew it up over Ukraine…am I missing anything?
I think you covered everything Aus, maybe should have asked when magic mushroom season was over.
And somehow managed to hide the legitimate plane as well.
And what plane did the people board in Amsterdam.
According to a report, airspace over that region was closed from ground level up to flight level 320(32000ft) as the belief was that was the risk area, anything above was deemed safe to fly through as there was no knowledge of the capability to cause such a catastrophy and the flight level of 33000ft at which the flight was travelling at! Unfortunatly this was wrong!! Terrible thing and such a tragic loss of life!!! Who ever did this should be shot
of course, blame the victims
Silly question here. If you are flying to Dubai, why fly over the Ukraine?. Would you not be best flying over the Mediterranean and then over Egypt and then over Saudi.
I think that Saudi Arabia is considered too unstable for regular flights. Egypt hasn’t been flash, either, but that’s been mostly in Cairo. To get to Saudi, I think you’d need to go near Israel, Palestine and Syria, with plenty of land to air missiles in those regions, too.
Flights in and out of Shannon avoid Moyross
Somebody needs to take their MEDICATION & go lie down
have your say